T-Mobile has just announced, via Twitter, that they’ve just launched 21 Mbps HSPA+ in Fort Myers, Florida; Pueblo, Colorado; and Wilkes Barre-Scranton, Pennsylvania. Several seconds on Wikipedia and a little number crunching later we’ve calculated that there are now 210,000 more Americans covered by their 4G network. That’s not a lot, but it’s better than being stuck on 7.2 Mbps HSPA if you happen to be a T-Mobile customer. Now if you’re looking for other options there’s Verizon with their 4G LTE network, which has been proven to hit speeds that make your home broadband connection look a little lame, and then there’s Sprint’s WiMAX network, which isn’t the fastest, and doesn’t have the best coverage, but the one thing it has going for it is the lack of a data cap. With Verizon you pay upwards of $60 for 5 GB or $80 for 10 GB, assuming you use a USB modem or portable hotspot, but if you’re using an LTE enabled smartphone then you should have truly unlimited data; tethering is going to cost you extra though. With T-Mobile they’ll give you unlimited data, but after you eat up 5 GB you’re throttled down to speeds that make even basic web surfing feel like you’ve been transported back to 1998 when you had to dial in to connect to the World Wide Web.
Act now because by this time next year T-Mobile may not even exist. AT&T is intent on buying the German owned operator, but they’re currently experiencing a lot of push back from regular citizens and other operators such as Sprint. If AT&T were to pick up T-Mobile, then the pace at which Americans would get new networking equipement to enable things like 42 Mbps HSPA+ or even LTE would dramatically slow down. Let’s be serious, it isn’t in AT&T’s best interest to update their network if their only competition is Verizon.
[Via: Phone Scoop]